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Ocean Stories: Data from the Twilight Zone

By Mae Dorricott

With my face glued to the car window, mouth agape, making “ooos” and “aahhhs”, I kept my colleagues Vaughn and Kayem well amused as they drove myself and Sonia through the stunning scenery of Pohnpei to Nihco Marine Park. This place was to be our base and home for Sonia’s annual expedition to explore the twilight zone of Pohnpei and sister atoll’s reefs.

I was invited along on the expedition by Dr. Sonia Rowley, one out of three people to win the David Attenborough Award for field work. She is well deserving of this award as her research in the twilight zone takes her to depths of 140 m, the area of the reef where light begins to dwindle away.…

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Mission Blue Launches First Arctic Expedition to the Svalbard Archipelago Hope Spot!

Rachel Krasna

Imagine journeying all the way to the Arctic only to find nothing, just sheer barren cold desert leading into the open blue. That scenario is not so far fetched lately, as scientists start to struggle with the reality of the melting Arctic landscape. With increasingly warmer waters and temperature rising, the Arctic could face ice-free periods each summer by 2050. This poses grave concern for countless species and biota that call this ecosystem home, particularly in one of the Mission Blue Hope Spots – the Svalbard Archipelago. Why should we care? Arctic sea ice is critical for wildlife, and also helps regulate the planet’s temperature. Recent studies also say that Arctic sea ice — and the lack of it — can impact natural weather patterns in distant areas like the United States (USA Today, 4/3/18).…

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Into the Deep Blue: Costa Rica Thermal Dome Expedition Launches

In three days, Mission Blue is heading out to the Costa Rica Thermal Dome Hope Spot with our strategic partners at MarViva! They are a fantastic regional, non-governmental organization focusing on the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal resources, including the expansion of marine protected areas. In the Costa Rica Thermal Dome, MarViva and Mission Blue share the goal of raising awareness among decision makers and natural resource users about the ecological importance of the Dome, as well as the ecological connection between coastal environments in the Central American region and the high seas.
Here are the facts…
What is the Costa Rica Thermal Dome?
The Costa Rica Thermal Dome is an open-ocean phenomenon that forms every spring between 150 and 300 miles off the western coast of Costa Rica.…

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Exploring Toxics in our Bodies & the Ocean with eXXpedition

Here’s a word from eXXpedition—a new Mission Blue partner:

eXXpedition is a series of all-women voyages to make the unseen seen, from the toxics in our bodies to the toxics in our seas.
We question the impact and scale of plastic and toxic pollution in our bodies and in our oceans using a unique and adventurous approach, tackling the questions from all angles—using science, communications, media, and education to get the answers. 
We have designed a series of global expeditions where we take novice sailors, who are highly skilled professionals from a range of disciplines, out into an extreme environment to explore the problem and develop solutions. Our primary aim is to connect people with the ocean, and the issues of plastic and toxic pollution.…

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Join Hello Ocean on a Scientific Odyssey

News from our partners at Hello Ocean: Filmmakers Teresa and Ben Carey invite you to join a scientific odyssey to document ocean acidification and map ocean noise pollution.

Award winning sailors and filmmakers, Teresa and Ben Carey, are taking the lead in an exciting new cooperative venture between the sailing and scientific communities. They are partnering with The Ocean Foundation, Dr. Nina Bednarsek and Swift Engineering to create a citizen science project in which ocean going vessels can take part collecting vital data that will help document the state of the world’s oceans. Their project, called Hello Ocean, launches this summer.
Ocean acidification was recently cited among the top five research interests of ocean scientists worldwide. Ocean acidification is the continuous decrease in the pH of the ocean, caused by carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.…

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Exploring Antarctica

Until well into the 20th Century, getting to Antarctica – and returning – was a really big deal. It still is, but thanks to new technologies and operations such as the National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions, adventurous souls from around the globe are able to experience Earth’s southernmost continent and appreciate the importance of the whales, seabirds, fish and seals that live there like never before. Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle is grateful that “the value of exploiting Antarctic wildlife as commodities is giving way to appreciating them as vital elements of systems that maintain Earth as a planet that works in our favor.” The urgency of exploring and protecting the Southern Ocean has never been greater.
The following photo journal illustrates Gale Mead’s recent visit to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands.…

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Fabien Cousteau tests the limits of human subaquatic exposure

Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the famed SCUBA inventor Jacques-Yves Cousteau, plans to continue the family tradition of pushing the limits under the waves. In a little over a month, Fabien will descend into the last remaining underwater marine lab in the world — Aquarius in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary — to spend 31 days in the habitat as part of his Mission 31. The duration of the mission is twice the length of any previous Aquarius mission and one day longer than his grandfather’s stay in Conshelf II undersea research station. He will quite literally be pushing the known boundaries of human subaquatic exposure.

“It’s about the adventure of discovery — about pushing the boundaries that are familiar to us,” Fabien told Mission Blue.…

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